Taming the teething baby

Taming your teething baby As a mother of a 9 month old with two older children, I'm now reminded, from various people asking me, 'Oh, how's the teething going?'. My memory of my other two teething is quite similar in my experience with my 9 month old - very limited issues. A few sporadic nights of restless sleep and the occasional bite! However, I do have a well-stocked homeopathic kit I used some 12 years ago for my other children and now dipping back into it again for number 3. Here are my top tips to tame your teething bub, trialed and tested!

Notice teething cues, this is something I'm very in tuned with that I believe helps prevent further pain, discomfort and inflammation with the right care and remedy for your infant or toddler. Teething cues may be: flushed cheeks, drooling, pulling-at-the-ears, grinding teeth, chewing anything they can get their hands on, restless sleep, mild fever, change in bowel movements, finger or hand sucking, wanting more feeds (breastfed or bottle), fussy - not sure what they want, who they want, lowered immune system.
If you breastfeed boost your immune and nutrient stores by eating foods rich in vitamin C (most fresh fruit and veggies or taking extra Vitamin C), ensure you have enough calcium, magnesium and D (sunshine vitamin) in your diet, these nutrients we deplete easily from pregnancy and breastfeeding. Our babies rely on our supplies to have adequate nutrients to grow healthy teeth. Foods rich in calcium include: sardines, salmon, tahini, dairy, broccoli, molasses, legumes, quinoa, nuts and seeds. Magnesium rich foods include steamed leafy greens, pumpkin seeds, almonds, greek yoghurt, cacao and avocado (sounds like a good smoothie recipe!).
Also ensure you and baby are well hydrated, with any signs of sweating, fever, loose stools, you need to keep baby's fluids up.
Offer frozen veggie or celery sticks to chew on
Play calming music
Diffuse chamomile, lavender and eucalyptus essential oils
Reduce the need to do too many outings, stay at home and help their sleep and feeding (including solids if they're at that stage) routines. I found with all my children structure/routine = calm kids. This can still include a morning walk, feed, sleep, feed, play outside (while you hang the washing!), feed, independent play time, feed,read books,feed, bath etc
For baby's eating solids include foods in the list above that are rich in those essential tissue building nutrients for healthy teeth. Avoid or limit packaged food such as crackers, rice cakes, rusks, bread, pasta etc offer veggies, fruit, yoghurt etc first. Anything crunchy they can have a good chew they love, so par-boil veggie sticks until firm but not too crunchy they choke.

Homeopathic remedies: Please note the potency of these remedies for babies are best 6c for physical complaints or 30c for physical/mental complaints. Otherwise seek the guidance from your local Naturopath or Homeopath.

Belladonna: Mild fever, red cheeks, irritable and bites.
Chamomilla: Irritable, hits, swollen red gums, unsure if they want to be picked up or put down, loose stools, worse in the evening.
Calc carb: chubby babies, have sweaty heads when sleeping, teething is long and arduous before they cut or delayed teeth.
Silica: delicate babies, teeth delay, often have weakened immune around teething
Sulphur: Chubby, sweaty palms/feet (can be odorous), experience nappy rash or heat rash around teething, irritable and anxious. Worse for heat.
Coffea crud: babies who are highly stimulated and have little sleep or difficulty sleeping
For the parents who suffer disrupted sleep: Cocculus and nervous system support: Kali Phos